I bring this up not to start up the Ryan Church bandwagon again (it's dead, I promise), but because of what Church said about returning prematurely after the second concussion of his Mets tenure in 2008:

"Any guys who are struck in the head by a ball or are running into
somebody, they're now taking their time and having a lot of patience
with it," Church said. "They're taking the word of the doctor and not
really listening to us. As players, we want to play. We'll do anything. I
lied, cheated, just to get back on the field."

Remember that one? That's the concussion where Church exacerbated his concussion symptoms by rushing back to play in the high altitude of Denver. That's the one where Jerry Manuel described Ryan Church as a "different animal" than David Wright,

John Bazemore / APRyan Church recalled the aftermath of his introduction to Yunel Escobar's knee on May 20, 2008 in commenting on the symptoms currently affecting Arizona 3B Mark Reynolds.

Ryan Church didn't just "lie" and "cheat" to get back on the field. He did everything humanly possible to try and stay out of Jerry Manuel's doghouse. No one gave consideration to the ramifications of a second concussion because everyone focused on the ongoing cold war between Church and Manuel. The concussion set the stage for the tabloid fodder that filled the sports pages to distract us from last year's disastrous season.

Though Church's comments to Piecoro come off as the bland "gamer" fluff you'd expect from this sort of article, it's worth remembering because it's precisely why the Mets need to take their time with Bay. The player will have his own motivations to rush back that may cloud his judgment and that of the decision makers, leading to a "rub a little dirt on it" mentality instead of letting the concussion recovery take its course. Church's comments are innocent enough to a D'Backs fan, but we know concussion injuries are different because we know why Church "lied" and "cheated."

It looks so far like the Mets finally understand that with Jason Bay's treatment. Even if the bridge to Flushing is burnt for Church, I hope he can take some solace in knowing his past experience is helping a player on his old team as much as it may help Reynolds.------Around the Web

According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, Fred Wilpon may have implied a vote of confidence for Omar Minaya during an SNY event at the University of Connecticut yesterday. Of course, Wilpon didn't exactly say, "Omar Minaya will be the General Manager of the New York Mets in 2011," either. A change is going to come, but we likely won't see it until the offseason.